Replication for cyber recovery for multiple tier data

ABSTRACT

Replication of a filesystem or a mount point or share may replicate all data that it consists of irrespective of where the data is stored. Replication protects data irrespective of location. One method is to replicate the filesystem namespace as is while skipping the data outside of the appliance/machine so that replication cost and time are reasonable. The data outside of the machine, like cloud/tape data is protected differently. One example method includes a data protection operation configured to replication a namespace associated with multiple data tiers. During replication, data from one of the tiers is skipped while all of the namespace metadata is replicated. The recovery restores the namespace metadata and the data that was replicated from the other tier. This may be performed in connection with cyber security, for example when replicating multi-tier data to a vault.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to dataprotection. More particularly, at least some embodiments of theinvention relate to systems, hardware, software, computer-readablemedia, and methods for data protection operations including replicationoperations and cyber security operations.

BACKGROUND

Data protection is an import aspect of computing environments. If anentity fails to protect their data, any type of data loss can proveproblematic or even catastrophic from the entity's perspective and fromthe perspective of their customers. Fortunately, there are many ways toprotect data today and most entities have some form of data protection.

While many entities have data protection, there is still room forimprovement for a variety of reasons. For example, not all entitiesstore data in the LU same manner. For example, some entities may storeall of their data locally. Other entities may use cloud-based storage ora hybrid storage arrangement. Further, the computing environment mayalso differ. Applications may be run using physical machines, virtualmachines, or other arrangements. These arrangements, and others, cancomplicate data protection operations.

In addition, data protection systems may not simply protect from datacorruption or data loss. Data protection systems may also need toconsider and protect against cyber threats such as ransomware.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which at least some of the advantagesand features of the invention may be obtained, a more particulardescription of embodiments of the invention will be rendered byreference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in theappended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typicalembodiments of the invention and are not therefore to be considered tobe limiting of its scope, embodiments of the invention will be describedand explained with additional specificity and detail through the use ofthe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 discloses aspects of a computing environment that includes a dataprotection system configured to perform data protection operations;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a data protection operation performingdata protection operations in a computing environment;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a method for performing a dataprotection operation that includes a replication operation;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a method for performing a dataprotection operation such as a recovery operation; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a method for performing a replicationoperation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to data protectionand data protection operations. More particularly, at least someembodiments of the invention relate to systems, hardware, software,computer-readable media, and methods for data protection operationsincluding, by way of example, backup operations, recovery operations,replication operations, vault operations, multi-tier data protectionoperations, cyber-recovery operations, security operations, or the likeor combination thereof.

More specifically, example embodiments of the invention relate toreplicating data that is stored on multiple tiers. Embodiments of theinvention further relate to security operations to secure or protect thedata from threats such as ransomware and other cyber threats.Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in, by way of exampleonly, DELLEMC Data Domain and Retention Lock.

Replication, by way of example only, includes copying data from a sourceor production site to a target or destination site such that the backupcopy is the same as the production copy. Replication may be implementedsuch that writes occurring at the production site are also written tothe destination site. In one example, this is achieved using snapshots.When a snapshot of source data is taken, the snapshot copy or the datacorresponding to the snapshot is written to the destination site. In oneexample, where snapshots are taken repeatedly over time, a snapshot mayidentify data that has changed since a prior snapshot. In this case, thereplication time may be shorter because the amount of data that haschanged is usually much less than the amount of data that has notchanged and has already been replicated. A snapshot may also copy alldata from the production site, at the time the snapshot was taken, tothe destination site.

In one example, embodiments of the invention replicate production datato a target or destination. The target may be a vault that is configuredto apply a retention lock to the replicated data. In other words, oncethe data from the source (the production site) is copied into the vault,the data can no longer be changed or deleted once the retention lock isapplied. This protects the data against threats such as ransomware.

For example, source data may be attacked and modified. The operation ofthe data protection system may even replicate or copy the modified datato the vault. However, previous copies of the data are not changed atthe vault because of the retention lock. This ensures that a valid andrecent copy of the data is available based on various protectionsettings and other factors associated with the vault. In one example,the vault may have more than one copy. One copy may be subject to aretention lock and the other a replica of the source.

Embodiments of the invention further relate to protecting multi-tierdata. For example, a production site may use data that is stored on alocal or active tier and in a cloud tier. Embodiments of the inventioninclude data protection operations for production data that may bestored in more than one tier such as a local tier and a cloud tier. Thelocal tier may also be referred to as a production tier. Generally, thelocal or production tier is an on-premise tier that is distinct fromdata stored in a cloud tier.

FIG. 1 illustrates a data protection system that is configured toperform data protection operations for multiple tiers of data. FIG. 1illustrates a replication appliance 104 (e.g., DELLEMC Data Domain) thatis configured to perform data protection operations includingreplication operations. The replication appliance 104, which is anexample of a data protection system, is configured to protect data,which may be organized in various manners and may include data, virtualmachines, applications, or the like, associated with a production site102. The production site 102 includes a local tier or local data 110 anda cloud tier or cloud data 112. In addition to performing replicationoperations, embodiments of the invention also include securityoperations to protect from cyber threats such as ransomware. In oneexample, the replication operation also provides protection from threatssuch as ransomware. In one example, the security operation may beintegrated into or executed as part of the replication operation.

The local data 110 may be stored locally to the production site 102 oron-premise. The local data 110 may include data, virtual machines,applications, or any other configuration that may be replicated orprotected. The cloud data 112 may include data stored in the cloud andmay also include data of different types. The cloud data 112 may bestored as blocks, objects, or the like.

The replication appliance 104 may perform or direct snapshot operationsin the production site 102 and then replicate the resulting snapshots.More specifically, the local data 110 and the cloud data 112 may be partof a single namespace. A namespace, by way of example, may be associatedwith a snapshot. The production site 102 may have multiple namespacesand may generate snapshots for each namespace. Each namespace could bereplicated separately. In this example, a snapshot 116 of a namespacemay include or reference both local data 110 and cloud data 112. Thesnapshot 116 thus references data spread across or located on differenttiers.

In FIG. 1, the snapshot 116 is replicated to a vault 108, which storesthe replicated data or snapshot 116 as backups 114. When multiplesnapshots are stored or included in the backups 114, the production site102 can recover to various points in time include a point in time thatdoes not include corrupted or compromised data.

In this example, the vault 108, which may be an appliance similar to theappliance 104, is associated with an air gap 106. The air gap 106functions such that the vault 108 is connected to a network or to thereplication appliance 104 only when necessary. When replication is notbeing performed, the vault 108 is disconnected or separated from most orall network connections. More specifically, the network connections,after replication, with systems outside the vault is broken or stopped.There may be other connections with other systems in the vault thatremain. This helps prevent the vault 108 from being the subject of acyber-attack. In addition, a retention lock may be applied to thebackups 114. This helps ensure that compromised data that may bereplicated to the vault 108 in a given snapshot does not impact oraffect previously stored copies, snapshot, or other backups 114.

If the snapshot were required to include all of the relevant local data110 and cloud data 112, the replication of the data would experienceissues when, for example, the cloud data 112 is not accessible orbecause the connection to the cloud data 112 is slower. Morespecifically, when the vault is providing cyber protection, whichincludes the air gap 106, the amount of time the production site 102 isconnected to the vault 108 should be minimized.

The replication performed by the replication appliance 104 is configuredto replicate a snapshot such that cyber threats are minimized or reducedby ensuring that the air gap 106 is open as little as possible.Generally, this is achieved by selectively replicating a snapshot. Morespecifically, the replication appliance 104 may not actually replicatethe cloud data. The namespace metadata, however, would be replicated.This accounts for the fact that an attack on the production site 102 maynot be occurring at the cloud data 112.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a data protection system thatreplicates multi-tier data from a production site to a target ordestination site. FIG. 2 illustrates a replication appliance 208configured to replicate data from both a production tier 202 and a cloudtier 212 to, in this example, a vault 210. However, the replicationcould be to a target destination in the cloud or another site and thevault 210 may not be associated with an air gap.

In one example, replication is performed based on a namespace basis. Thenamespace may be a logical partition of a filesystem, for example. Inthis example, the namespace 204 includes at least a part of theproduction tier 202, which is local to a production site, and a portionof a cloud tier 212, which is cloud-based.

In one example, the replication operation replicates a snapshot of thenamespace by copying the namespace metadata 214 to the vault 210 duringreplication. The namespace metadata 214 references all of the data inthe snapshot and includes metadata for the production tier 202 andmetadata for the cloud tier 212. When replicating the data in thenamespace 204, data from the cloud tier 212 is skipped and is notreplicated from the cloud tier 212 to the vault 210. More specifically,as a file (block, chunk, etc.) is replicated, the source or location ofthe file is determined. If the location is the cloud tier 212, the datacorresponding to the file is skipped and is not replicated. If thelocation is the production tier 202, the data 206 corresponding to thefile is included and replicated to the vault 210.

As a result of this replication, the vault 210, for each snapshot, mayinclude namespace metadata 214 and data 216. The namespace metadata 214may reference data in the cloud tier/data 212 and in the local tier/data206, but the data 216 does not include data from the cloud tier 212. Thedata 216 only includes the local data 206 corresponding to the snapshotor corresponding to the replication.

When storing the data 216, it may be necessary to adjust checksums orother verification methods associated with the snapshot to account forthe data that was not retrieved from the cloud tier 212, which is notincluded in the data 216.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method for replicating data. The method300 includes a snapshot operation. Thus, the replication may begin afterthe snapshot is initiated and performed. The data corresponding to thesnapshot or to the namespace can then be replicated. The elements of themethod 300 may be performed in various orders and some elements may beperformed concurrently. For example, an appliance may replicate thesnapshot in batches, where each batch includes data and/or metadata.

In the method 300, the namespace metadata is replicated 302 by thereplication appliance 208 to the vault 210. The namespace metadata 302may point to the data in the production tier 202 and in the cloud tier212 being copied or replicated. Because the data subject to the snapshotmay include the local data 206 and data from the cloud tier 212, thenamespace metadata 302 may point to locations in the production tier 202and in the cloud tier 212.

The method 300 then replicates 304 the local or production tier 202.More specifically, this is achieved by copying the data 206 associatedwith the snapshot 218 to the vault 214. Data associated with thesnapshot 218 that is located in the cloud tier 212 is skipped 306 and isnot replicated or copied to the vault 210. After the snapshot 218 isreplicated, the data 216 only includes data from the local data 206 inthe local tier. Safeguards, such as checksums, are adjusted 308 toaccount for the skipped data from the cloud tier 212.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate an example of providing data protection in thecontext of cyber threats. In many instances, because the production tier202 is distinct (e.g., located at different locations) from the cloudtier 212, an attack on the production tier 202 may not impact the datain the cloud tier 212. As a result, the data in the production tier 202is protected from threats such as ransomware. Advantageously, thesnapshot-based replication is not impeded by latencies (read times,download times, etc.) associated with the cloud tier 212.

Advantageously, replication performed by the replication appliance 208does not fall behind if the cloud tier 212 is not available or is slow.Further, the amount of time that the air gap is closed is controlled andnot unnecessarily extended based on cloud connectivity and other cloudrelated latencies. Embodiments of the invention minimize and/or preventany effect on the production site or namespace 204 in terms ofnamespace, resource usage, performance, and the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a recovery operation. In this example,the recovery operation operates to recovery the data from the vault (orother backup site). In this case, the data from the production tier isrestored or recovered along with the namespace metadata. Once restored,the namespace metadata will point to the data in the cloud tier thatalready exists. In one example, the data in the cloud tier may havechanged and the namespace metadata may not reference data that haschanged. In other words, the backup of the namespace does not referencenew data that may have been added. In one example, snapshots of thecloud are taken and, after recovery, those snapshots can be used for thedata that is new or has changed. More specifically, to restore aconsistent state from both the vault and the cloud, a recoverednamespace may be reconciled with the cloud namespace, which could be asnapshot or a namespace change log (e.g., a journal of changes) that canbe replayed or applied. The journal may store copies of the changes asthe changes occurred. Thus, the cloud namespace can be recreated to anappropriate time using one or more of the journal entries. Thus,replaying the journal or a snapshot can result in a reconcilednamespace.

When performing the recovery operation, the copy or snapshot beingrestored from the vault is made available. Once available, the namespacemetadata is replicated 402 to the production site. The local data in thecopy being recovered is replicated 404 to the production tier 404 fromthe vault. Data corresponding to the cloud tier is skipped 406 in themethod 400 at least because the cloud data was not copied to the vault.Once the namespace data is restored, however, the cloud tier isavailable because the restored namespace data points to the data in thecloud tier.

Because the data from the cloud tier is not copied to the vault, thisprevents the cloud data from being accessed from the vault. Even if afile pointing to the cloud tier is accessed on the vault, the attemptmay fail because the vault may not have external or network access. Aspreviously stated, the vault may be restricted such that only the source(e.g., the replication appliance 208) can access the vault.

Advantageously, embodiments of the invention allow snapshots or otherdata protection operations to be performed without copying data from thecloud tier to the vault. Because copying data from the cloud tierinvolves egress transactions, cost is incurred. The amount of time thatthe vault is open (the air gap is closed) is also reduced by embodimentsof the invention. Further, local data can be replicated even when thecloud is not available.

In another example, embodiments of the invention may also protect thecloud tier against cyber threats such as ransomware. Stated differently,the cloud data may be replicated differently. FIG. 5 illustrates amethod for replicating both the production tier and the cloud tier.Elements 502, 504, 506, and 508 are similar to elements 302, 304, 306,and 308 of FIG. 3 and have been previously described.

If there is a desire to protect the cloud tier from cyber threats inaddition to the production tier, various operations can be performed onthe cloud tier. For example, the snapshot may also trigger 510 cloudreplication. For example, objects representing a file may be within thesame region or regions and can be replicated to another target or regionin the cloud. In one example, the cloud tier 212 may be replicated toanother region (e.g., the cloud may have multiple regions as failuredomains. These regions can be referred to or used during recovery.Alternatively, or in addition, versioning and retention locks areenabled 512 on the data in the cloud tier and/or on the replicated clouddata. This retention lock protects the cloud tier data and prevents thecloud tier data from being tampered with. Another example is where thevault is in the cloud, which means data is being replicated to thetarget appliance (e.g., virtual) in the cloud. In that case, the regionfor the source and the vault might be different. The option to create aprotected cloud copy through in-cloud replication will bring a copy inthe vault. Data transfer between the cloud regions through an appliancemay not be necessary in this case.

In both 510 and 512, retention locks are applied 514 to the metadata ofthe filesystem and/or of the data. In other words, the cloud tier may beassociated with the namespace metadata and/or with metadata specific tothe cloud tier. This metadata stored in the cloud tier is subject to theretention lock.

These elements ensure that, if ransomware reaches the cloud tier via thereplication appliance, the objects cannot be written to or deletedbecause of the retention locks.

Embodiments of the invention include replicating a namespace that hasdata in multiple tiers. In one example, the namespace of the replica iskept the same as the source so that failback can occur. In other words,snapshots make a copy of the namespace. This enables the ability torevert to a known namespace in the vault or at the production site incase of attack. Further, the namespace is kept consistent because thereare references to the data in the cloud in the replicas (but no accessin one example from the vault). There is no need, in one example, todirectly reference the data in order to snapshot or replicate thenamespace. When the snapshots or backups are stored in a vault, accessto the data stored in the cloud tier is restricted from within thevault. Finally, cloud data, in addition to local data, can be protectedagainst cyber threats such as ransomware.

Embodiments of the invention, such as the examples disclosed herein, maybe beneficial in a variety of respects. For example, and as will beapparent from the present disclosure, one or more embodiments of theinvention may provide one or more advantageous and unexpected effects,in any combination, some examples of which are set forth below. Itshould be noted that such effects are neither intended, nor should beconstrued, to limit the scope of the claimed invention in any way. Itshould further be noted that nothing herein should be construed asconstituting an essential or indispensable element of any invention orembodiment. Rather, various aspects of the disclosed embodiments may becombined in a variety of ways so as to define yet further embodiments.Such further embodiments are considered as being within the scope ofwell, none of the embodiments embraced within the scope of thisdisclosure should be construed as resolving, or being limited to theresolution of, any particular problem(s). Nor should any suchembodiments be construed to implement, or be limited to implementationof, any particular technical effect(s) or solution(s). Finally, it isnot required that any embodiment implement any of the advantageous andunexpected effects disclosed herein.

The following is a discussion of aspects of example operatingenvironments for various embodiments of the invention. This discussionis not intended to limit the scope of the invention, or theapplicability of the embodiments, in any way.

In general, embodiments of the invention may be implemented inconnection with systems, software, and components, that individuallyand/or collectively implement, and/or cause the implementation of, dataprotection operations. More generally, the scope of the inventionembraces any operating environment in which the disclosed concepts maybe useful.

At least some embodiments of the invention provide for theimplementation of the disclosed functionality in existing backupplatforms, examples of which include the Dell-EMC DataDomain storageenvironment and Retention Lock. In general however, the scope of theinvention is not limited to any particular data backup platform or datastorage environment.

New and/or modified data collected and/or generated in connection withsome embodiments, may be stored in a data protection environment thatmay take the form of a public or private cloud storage environment, anon-premises storage environment, and hybrid storage environments thatinclude public and private elements. Any of these example storageenvironments, may be partly, or completely, virtualized. The storageenvironment may comprise, or consist of, a datacenter which is operableto service read, write, delete, backup, restore, and/or cloning,operations initiated by one or more clients or other elements of theoperating environment. Where a backup comprises groups of data withdifferent respective characteristics, that data may be allocated, andstored, to different respective targets in the storage environment,where the targets each correspond to a data group having one or moreparticular characteristics.

Example cloud computing environments, which may or may not be public,include storage environments that may provide data protectionfunctionality for one or more clients. Another example of a cloudcomputing environment is one in which processing, data protection, andother, services may be performed on behalf of one or more clients. Someexample cloud computing and/or storage environments in connection withwhich embodiments of the invention may be employed include, but are notlimited to, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS, Dell EMC Cloud StorageServices, and Google Cloud. More generally however, the scope of theinvention is not limited to employment of any particular type orimplementation of cloud computing environment. The cloud storage mayinclude public, hybrid, and/or private cloud.

In addition to the cloud environment, the operating environment may alsoinclude one or more clients that are capable of collecting, modifying,and creating, data. As such, a particular client may employ, orotherwise be associated with, one or more instances of each of one ormore applications that perform such operations with respect to data.Such clients may comprise physical machines, or virtual machines (VM)

Particularly, devices in the operating environment may take the form ofsoftware, physical machines, or VMs, or any combination of these, thoughno particular device implementation or configuration is required for anyembodiment. Similarly, data protection system components such asdatabases, storage servers, storage volumes (LUNs), storage disks,replication services, backup servers, restore servers, backup clients,and restore clients, for example, may likewise take the form ofsoftware, physical machines or virtual machines (VM), though noparticular component implementation is required for any embodiment.Where VMs are employed, a hypervisor or other virtual machine monitor(VMM) may be employed to create and control the VMs. The term VMembraces, but is not limited to, any virtualization, emulation, or otherrepresentation, of one or more computing system elements, such ascomputing system hardware. A VM may be based on one or more computerarchitectures, and provides the functionality of a physical computer. AVM implementation may comprise, or at least involve the use of, hardwareand/or software. An image of a VM may take the form of a .VMX file andone or more .VMDK files (VM hard disks) for example.

As used herein, the term ‘data’ is intended to be broad in scope. Thus,that term embraces, by way of example and not limitation, data segmentssuch as may be produced by data stream segmentation processes, datachunks, data blocks, atomic data, emails, objects of any type, files ofany type including media files, word processing files, spreadsheetfiles, and database files, as well as contacts, directories,sub-directories, volumes, and any group of one or more of the foregoing.

Example embodiments of the invention are applicable to any systemcapable of storing and handling various types of objects, in analog,digital, or other form. Although terms such as document, file, segment,block, or object may be used by way of example, the principles of thedisclosure are not limited to any particular form of representing andstoring data or other information. Rather, such principles are equallyapplicable to any object capable of representing information.

As used herein, the term ‘backup’ is intended to be broad in scope. Assuch, example backups in connection with which embodiments of theinvention may be employed include, but are not limited to, full backups,partial backups, clones, snapshots, and incremental or differentialbackups. Embodiments further apply to archives. Any data that is storedin a multi-tier appliance that may replicate to a vault can be used withembodiments of the invention.

It is noted that any of the disclosed processes, operations, methods,and/or any portion of any of these, may be performed in response to, asa result of, and/or, based upon, the performance of any precedingprocess(es), methods, and/or, operations. Correspondingly, performanceof one or more processes, for example, may be a predicate or trigger tosubsequent performance of one or more additional processes, operations,and/or methods. Thus, for example, the various processes that may makeup a method may be linked together or otherwise associated with eachother by way of relations such as the examples just noted.

Following are some further example embodiments of the invention. Theseare presented only by way of example and are not intended to limit thescope of the invention in any way.

Embodiment 1. A method, comprising: initiating a data protectionoperation at a production site, the data protection operation includinga replication operation, replicating namespace metadata associated witha cloud tier and a production tier to a target site, wherein thenamespace metadata identifies data in the production tier and data inthe cloud tier, and replicating the data from the namespace to thetarget site, wherein data from the production tier is replicated to thetarget site and data from the cloud tier is not replicated to the targetsite, wherein the replicated data and the replicated namespace datacomprise a backup.

Embodiment 2. The method of embodiment 1, further comprising taking asnapshot of the namespace and replicating the snapshot to the targetsite.

Embodiment 3. The method of embodiments 1 and/or 2, wherein the targetsite comprises a vault that is associated with an air gap that is closedonly when replicating the data from the production tier and thenamespace metadata to the vault.

Embodiment 4. The method of embodiments 1, 2 and/or 3, furthercomprising evaluating a location of data associated with the snapshot,wherein data is replicated when the location of the data is theproduction tier and wherein data is skipped when the location of thedata is the cloud tier.

Embodiment 5. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, and/or 4, further acomprising applying a retention lock to the backup in the target site.

Embodiment 6. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, 4, and/or 5, furthercomprising triggering a cloud-based replication of data in the cloudtier when performing the replication operation.

Embodiment 7. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and/or 6, furthercomprising enabling versioning and retention locks in the cloud tier.

Embodiment 8. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and/or 7,further comprising applying retention locks to metadata associated withthe replicated cloud data and replicated metadata associated with thecloud data.

Embodiment 9. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and/or 8,further comprising recovering the backup from the vault by copying thenamespace metadata to the production tier and copying the dataassociated with the production tier to the production tier.

Embodiment 10. The method of embodiments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and/or9, further comprising opening the target site to access the backup for arecovery operation.

Embodiments 11. A method for performing any of the operations, methods,or processes, or any portion of any of these, disclosed herein.

Embodiment 12. A non-transitory storage medium having stored thereininstructions that are executable by one or more hardware processors toperform operations comprising the operations of any one or more orportions thereof of embodiments 1 through 11.

The embodiments disclosed herein may include the use of a specialpurpose or general-purpose computer including various computer hardwareor software modules, as discussed in greater detail below. A computermay include a processor and computer storage media carrying instructionsthat, when executed by the processor and/or caused to be executed by theprocessor, perform any one or more of the methods disclosed herein, orany part(s) of any method disclosed.

As indicated above, embodiments within the scope of the presentinvention also include computer storage media, which are physical mediafor carrying or having computer-executable instructions or datastructures stored thereon. Such computer storage media may be anyavailable physical media that may be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer storage media maycomprise hardware storage such as solid state disk/device (SSD), RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM, flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), or otheroptical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storagedevices, or any other hardware storage devices which may be used tostore program code in the form of computer-executable instructions ordata structures, which may be accessed and executed by a general-purposeor special-purpose computer system to implement the disclosedfunctionality of the invention. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer storage media. Such media are alsoexamples of non-transitory storage media, and non-transitory storagemedia also embraces cloud-based storage systems and structures, althoughthe scope of the invention is not limited to these examples ofnon-transitory storage media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed, cause a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or special purpose processing device to perform acertain function or group of functions. As such, some embodiments of theinvention may be downloadable to one or more systems or devices, forexample, from a website, mesh topology, or other source. As well, thescope of the invention embraces any hardware system or device thatcomprises an instance of an application that comprises the disclosedexecutable instructions.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts disclosed herein are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

As used herein, the term ‘module’ or ‘component’ may refer to softwareobjects or routines that execute on the computing system. The differentcomponents, modules, engines, and services described herein may beimplemented as objects or processes that execute on the computingsystem, for example, as separate threads. While the system and methodsdescribed herein may be implemented in software, implementations inhardware or a combination of software and hardware are also possible andcontemplated. In the present disclosure, a ‘computing entity’ may be anycomputing system as previously defined herein, or any module orcombination of modules running on a computing system.

In at least some instances, a hardware processor is provided that isoperable to carry out executable instructions for performing a method orprocess, such as the methods and processes disclosed herein. Thehardware processor may or may not comprise an element of other hardware,such as the computing devices and systems disclosed herein.

In terms of computing environments, embodiments of the invention may beperformed in client-server environments, whether network or localenvironments, or in any other suitable environment. Suitable operatingenvironments for at least some embodiments of the invention includecloud computing environments where one or more of a client, server, orother machine may reside and operate in a cloud environment.

Any one or more of the entities disclosed, or implied, herein and/orelsewhere herein, may take the form of, or include, or be implementedon, or hosted by, a physical computing device. As well, where any of theaforementioned elements comprise or consist of a virtual machine (VM),that VM may constitute a virtualization of any combination of physicalcomponents.

For example, the physical computing device may include a memory whichmay include one, some, or all, of random access memory (RAM),non-volatile memory (NVM) such as NVRAM for example, read-only memory(ROM), and persistent memory, one or more hardware processors,non-transitory storage media, UI device, and data storage. One or moreof the memory components of the physical computing device may LU takethe form of solid-state device (SSD) storage. As well, one or moreapplications may be provided that comprise instructions executable byone or more hardware processors to perform any of the operations, orportions thereof, disclosed herein.

Such executable instructions may take various forms including, forexample, instructions executable to perform any method or portionthereof disclosed herein, and/or executable by/at any of a storage site,whether on-premises at an enterprise, or a cloud computing site, client,datacenter, data protection site including a cloud storage site, orbackup server, to perform any of the functions disclosed herein. Aswell, such instructions may be executable to perform any of the otheroperations and methods, and any portions thereof, disclosed herein.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: initiating a dataprotection operation at a production site, the data protection operationincluding a replication operation, wherein the production site includesa production tier that is local and a cloud tier that is different fromthe production tier; replicating namespace metadata associated with thecloud tier and the production tier to a target site, wherein thenamespace metadata identifies data in the production tier and data inthe cloud tier; and replicating the data from the namespace to thetarget site, wherein data from the production tier is replicated to thetarget site and data from the cloud tier is not replicated to the targetsite, wherein the replicated data and the replicated namespace metadatacomprise a backup.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising taking asnapshot of the namespace and replicating the snapshot to the targetsite.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target site comprises avault that is associated with an air gap that is closed only whenreplicating the data from the production tier and the namespace metadatato the vault.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising evaluating alocation of data associated with the snapshot, wherein data isreplicated when the location of the data is the production tier andwherein data is skipped when the location of the data is the cloud tier.5. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying a retention lockto the backup in the target site.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising triggering a cloud-based replication of data in the cloudtier when performing the replication operation.
 7. The method of claim1, further comprising enabling versioning and retention locks in thecloud tier.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising applyingretention locks to metadata associated with the replicated cloud datathat has been replicated and replicated metadata associated with thecloud data.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising recovering thebackup by copying the namespace metadata to the production tier andcopying the data associated with the production tier to the productiontier.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising opening the targetsite to access the backup for a recovery operation.
 11. A non-transitorystorage medium having stored therein instructions that are executable byone or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:initiating a data protection operation at a production site, the dataprotection operation including a replication operation, wherein theproduction site includes a production tier that is local and a cloudtier that is different from the production tier; replicating namespacemetadata associated with the cloud tier and the production tier to atarget site, wherein the namespace metadata identifies data in theproduction tier and data in the cloud tier; and replicating the datafrom the namespace to the target site, wherein data from the productiontier is replicated to the target site and data from the cloud tier isnot replicated to the target site, wherein the replicated data and thereplicated namespace matadata comprise a backup.
 12. The non-transitorystorage medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising taking asnapshot of the namespace and replicating the snapshot to the targetsite.
 13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 11, wherein thetarget site comprises a vault that is associated with an air gap that isclosed only when replicating the data from the production tier and thenamespace metadata to the vault.
 14. The non-transitory storage mediumof claim 12, the operations further comprising evaluating a location ofdata associated with the snapshot, wherein data is replicated when thelocation of the data is the production tier and wherein data is skippedwhen the location of the data is the cloud tier.
 15. The non-transitorystorage medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising applying aretention lock to the backup in the target site.
 16. The non-transitorystorage medium of claim 11, the operations further comprising triggeringa cloud-based replication of data in the cloud tier when performing thereplication operation.
 17. The non-transitory storage medium of claim11, the operations further comprising enabling versioning and retentionlocks in the cloud tier.
 18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim17, the operations further comprising applying retention locks tometadata associated with the cloud data that has been replicated andreplicated metadata associated with the cloud data.
 19. Thenon-transitory storage medium of claim 11, the operations furthercomprising recovering the backup by copying the namespace metadata tothe production tier and copying the data associated with the productiontier to the production tier.
 20. The non-transitory storage medium ofclaim 19, the operations further comprising opening the target site toaccess the backup for a recovery operation.